Ceiling supported load spacer

ABSTRACT

A spacer for filling spaces, in a freight vehicle or container, between a side of a stack of articles of freight and another surface in the container, in the form of a lightweight expandable honeycomb structure, expandable in a vertical direction between said surfaces and suspended therein by hanger members engaging supports on the container ceiling.

United States Patent [19 Farley 3,823,675 [451 July 16, 1974 CEILING SUPPORTED LOAD SPACER FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Larry Farley, WoodlandfWash.

Narad, Inc., Wayne, Mich.

Apr. 6, 1973 882,596 11/1961 Great Britain................. 2l4/l0.5 D

Assignee:

Primary Examiner-Frank E. Werner [22] Filed:

Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Bacon & Thomas Appl. No.: 348,665

ABSTRACT A spacer for filling spaces, in a freight vehicle or containenbetween a side of 'a stack of articles of freight and another surface in the container, in the form of a lightweight expandable honeycomb structure, expandable in a vertical direction between said surfaces and v suspended therein by hanger members engaging sup- [56] References Cited.

UNITED STATES PATENTS ports on the container ceiling.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures 3,593,671 7/1971 Bramlett.......................... 105/369 B CEILING SUPPORTED LOAD SPACER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention is in the field of dunnage devices for filling spaces in loads of cargo.

Many articles of freight are shipped in containers or freight cars, including trucks, wherein the articles are stacked in the available space. It usually happens that the articles do not completely occupy the available space and it becomes necessary to prevent their shifting during transit to prevent damage thereto. Many proposals have been advanced for holding such articles against shifting but most have been difficult to install or expensive to produce. I

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a load spacer for use between stacks of articles of freight or between the articles and a wall of the container and is embodied in the form of a collapsible honeycomb structure, formed preferably of corrugated paperboard or the like so that it may be collapsed to a compact package for shipment or storage but can be readily expanded to fill generally planar shaped spaces of different dimensions. In general, the invention comprises such a collapsible honeycomb structure havingsuspension means secured to the top thereof and engageable with support means on the ceiling of the container whereby the honeycomb structure can be suspended and expanded downwardly adja cent a stack of articles to fill the space between that stack and either another stack of articles or a wall of the container. In a preferred form of the invention, the

suspending means comprise hooks pivotally joined to the spacer structure whereby they can be folded downwardly for compact storage or shipment or folded upwardly to engage the support means referred to when put in use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a typical load arrangement having the spacer of the present invention applied thereto;

FIG. 2 is an isometricview of a collapsed honeycomb structure for use as in FIG. I; and

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing a modified suspension means.

DESCRIPTION OF'A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring first to FIG. 1, numeral 2 fragmentarily illustrates a ceiling portion of a freight container which may be a separate container, a truck body, a railway freight car or the like, and all such are included in applicants term freight-container." As indicated at 4, the ceiling of the container is provided with support means fixed thereto in the form of beams or channels having openings 6 therein. The openings 6 illustrated in the drawings'are merely illustrative since any number, size or shape of such openings may be. provided in suitable beams or supports of any desired configuration.

' Numerals 8 indicate stacks of discrete articles of freight to be shipped in the container 2. As shown in Each of the spacer devices 10 comprises an expandable honeycomb structure that has been expanded. The honeycomb structure is of a collapsible and expandable nature and comprises strips of sheet material, such as double-faced corrugated paperboard or the like, with the strips arranged in a stack and being secured to adjacent stripsat spaced and staggered positions whereby such stack may be expanded to define a honecomb slab having a multiplicity of cells, the walls of the cells extending transversely of the slab. Such expandable honeycomb structures per se are known and need not be further described.

According to the present invention the top or upper strip14 of the honeycomb slab has secured thereto a rigid base strip 16 which may conveniently be a strip of wood adhesively secured to the strip 14. A pair of wire hook members 18 is pivoted to the base strip 16 and each is provided with a hook-like configuration 20 at its upper end. As shown in FIG. 1, the hook-like portions 20 are engaged in the openings 6 of the supports 4 and thus the honeycomb spacer device is suspended from the ceiling of the container and does not rely upon the stacks of articles themselves for support. This permits ready and efficient installation of the spacer means for the intendedpurpose.

Obviously, the supports 4 need not necessarily have openings 6 therein. The supportscould define edge flanges to be engaged by hooks 20 orthe supports could be in the form of rods over which hooks 20 are engaged. The specific form of the support is not critical to applicants invention. Also, the hook 20 may be modified orreplaced by suitable means for engaging whatever supports 4 arepresent in the container.

FIG. 2 illustrates the specific assemblies of FIG. 1 in collapsed form wherein numeral 22 indicates the stack of strips previously mentioned. The hook members 18 are pivotally mounted to the base strip 16 by means of brackets or plates 24 suitably secured to the base strip 16 and defining downwardly facing channels 26 in which lower horizontal portions of the hook-like members 18 are pivotally received. Upturned ends 28 hold the elements 18 in the described position. As suggested in FIG. 2, the suspension members18may be pivoted downwardly to ride generally flat against the strips 16 to occupy less space for storage or shipment but may be readily swung to their upstanding position shown in FIG. l'for easy installation.

FIG. 3 illustrates a modified form of device similar to that of FIG. 2 and including essentially the same stack 22 of strips adhered as previously described. A strip of wood or other suitable material 30 is secured to the upper strip 14 of the stack, such as by means of an adhesive, or otherwise.'ln this form, however, the brackets 24 are omitted and the strip 30 is provided with channels or grooves 32 on its under side with the lower horizontal portions of the suspension members 18 extending through those channels. This constitutes a simpler and less expensive form of construction than that of FIG. 2.

While a limited number of embodiments of the invention have been shown and described herein it is to be understood that other modifications may be resorted to, for example, the suspension members 18 may be rigid or in the form of spring wire or the like. Also, instead of providing brackets 24 or the groove 32 for pivotally mounting the suspension members 18, the lower horizontal portions of the latter could be extended through the flutes or openings in the cell wall within strip 14 itself. As is known, the strip 14 may be a double-faced corrugated paperboard with the intermediate corrugations comprising a sinuous arrangement of sheet material providing the flutes or passageways referred to.

I claim:

1. The combination comprising: a mobile freight container having sides and a ceiling; support means secured to said ceiling and supported solely thereby; a plurality of discrete articles of freight in said container arranged in a stack of articles with a generally planar upright surface of said stack adjacent but spaced from a verticalsurface within said container; an expandable honeycomb structure of sheet material substantially filling the space between said surfaces with the sheet material thereof extending transversely across said space, said honeycomb structure being expandable and contractable in a vertical direction; and at least one hanger member extending upwardly from and pivoted to the top of said honeycomb structure on an axis transverse to said space and engaging said support means whereby to hold said structure suspended from said ceiling.

2. The combination of claim 1 including a rigid basemember fixed to the top of said honeycomb structure, said hanger member being pivotally mounted on said base member about a generally horizontal axis extending transverse to said space.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein there are a plurality of said hanger members spaced along the end thereof pivoted to said stack,'at the top thereof, on

an axis generally parallel to the upper surface of said stack and transverse thereto, the other end of said hanger member having a hook-like means thereon for engagement with an overhead support; and

an elongated rigid base fixed to the upper strip of said stack, said hanger member having a laterally extending lower end portion pivoted to said base. 

1. The combination comprising: a mobile freight container having sides and a ceiling; support means secured to said ceiling and supported solely thereby; a plurality of discrete articles of freight in said container arranged in a stack of articles with a generally planar upright surface of said stack adjacent but spaced from a vertical surface within said container; an expandable honeycomb structure of sheet material substanTially filling the space between said surfaces with the sheet material thereof extending transversely across said space, said honeycomb structure being expandable and contractable in a vertical direction; and at least one hanger member extending upwardly from and pivoted to the top of said honeycomb structure on an axis transverse to said space and engaging said support means whereby to hold said structure suspended from said ceiling.
 2. The combination of claim 1 including a rigid base member fixed to the top of said honeycomb structure, said hanger member being pivotally mounted on said base member about a generally horizontal axis extending transverse to said space.
 3. The combination of claim 2 wherein there are a plurality of said hanger members spaced along the length of said space.
 4. An expandable honeycomb structure comprising: a stack of elongated strips of sheet material, the strips of said stack being secured to adjacent strips at spaced and staggered positions whereby said stack may be expanded to define a honeycomb slab having a multiplicity of cells; and at least one hanger member having one end thereof pivoted to said stack, at the top thereof, on an axis generally parallel to the upper surface of said stack and transverse thereto, the other end of said hanger member having a hook-like means thereon for engagement with an overhead support; and an elongated rigid base fixed to the upper strip of said stack, said hanger member having a laterally extending lower end portion pivoted to said base. 